10 Crazy Luxury Features in the $400K 2018 Rolls-Royce Wraith

Photo Credit: Rolls-Royce

By Jeff Zurschmeide

There really is something different about a Rolls-Royce. But when you see a Rolls from the outside, it’s like the tip of the iceberg. The real features that set a Rolls apart from all other cars are inside. The Wraith is the company’s “personal luxury” car. That means it’s designed to be driven by the owner instead of a professional chauffeur. The Wraith is a two-door fastback coupe, made to take you and a very special someone anywhere you want to go in the finest luxury ever conceived for a car. There are four seats, but let’s keep it real here — this is not a car for a double date.

With that in mind, here are 10 of the ultimate luxury features that come with the $401,925 sticker price on a fully loaded 2018 Rolls-Royce Wraith. If Sir or Madam will simply click to continue, we’ll begin.

1. The doors open in a better way.

When you get into the Wraith, you’ll notice that the doors are hinged at the back. It’s the opposite of an ordinary car. This is not done simply to be different; there’s a point to it. You’ll find that it’s much easier and more graceful to get into the car this way, since you’re not pinned between the door and the seat. For ladies and Scotsmen, this design preserves modesty when getting out of the car while wearing a short skirt or kilt.

What’s not easy is closing the door after you get in the car. No one can reach that far. But never fear! There’s a convenient button. Just give it a push and the Wraith will close the doors for you.

2. There’s massage, and by George, the floor mats are real sheepskins.

Of course the seats in the Wraith are comfortable. That’s expected. But this is a Rolls, and “as expected” simply won’t do. Lots of luxury cars will prod you in the back and call it a massage, but the Wraith will also rub your thighs and gently move your hips around to keep you relaxed and comfortable. Combine this with some seat heat and you’ll feel like your commute just turned into a spa day.

Passengers get extra joy, because the floor mats in the Wraith are real combed shearling sheepskins. You haven’t lived until you’ve kicked your shoes off and buried your feet in warm English wool. Just let your toes wiggle around on it for a while. This is why you wanted to be rich in the first place, right?

3. It has stars in the ceiling.

The unofficial slogan of Rolls-Royce should be, “because we can, that’s why.” One of the optional add-ons in a bespoke Wraith is the Starlight Headliner. When you order this, the elves at the Rolls factory hand-weave 1,340 individual fiber-optic lights into the leather headliner. The effect is like looking up into a night sky scene.

The reason for this feature is obvious, of course. Any peasant can open a sunroof and look at the real sky. But how many people can have the sky re-created inside their car for a private viewing? But still, why go to all that effort? Because we can, that’s why.

4. The Wraith knows what’s coming and prepares for it.

One of Rolls’ catchphrases is “effortless power.” That means that the Wraith has to be ready to deliver full warp drive whenever required. But instead of Scotty in the engine room, the Wraith has a “Satellite Aided Transmission” that tells the car its exact position at all times.

The point to all this is that if a hill is coming up, the Wraith downshifts before you get there, so you’re in the right gear to power up the hill away from your trouble and strife. According to Rolls, “corners, motorway junctions and roundabouts are all anticipated in advance, meaning Wraith is constantly poised to deliver on its promise of performance.”

5. The hood ornament protects itself.

One look at the “Spirit of Ecstasy” hood ornament that graces every Rolls Royce, and you’ll say, "I gotta get me one of those!" We suggest you resist the temptation to engage in thievery most foul — because this little lady won’t be having any of that.

When you turn off the Wraith and lock the doors, the Spirit of Ecstasy will gently disappear down into the car, and a little door closes behind her. To get the genie out of her bottle, you have to fire up the car again. But before anyone gets any wild ideas, Miss Ecstasy is quite capable of defending herself from grabby little hands. If some miscreant takes hold of the ornament, it immediately retracts into the car with surprising force and a distinct lack of concern for the well-being of any sticky fingers.

6. The wood grain in the paneling is set at a precise angle.

Lots of luxury cars have wood-grain trim. In proper luxury cars, it’s actually real wood, not plastic. In a Rolls-Royce, it’s not only real wood, but you get a lot of it. Not only that, but each piece is hand-selected, artisanally shaped, and carefully placed into the car by an 86-year-old man named Clive Higgenbottom.

OK, we’re just kidding about Clive. We don’t know who does it, but they really do match up each piece so that the wood grain patterns line up perfectly, and the stripes all go at a precise 55-degree angle. The wood pieces in the front and rear center consoles of the car all make neat little arrows pointing forward. Because they can, that’s why.

7. The 624-horsepower V12 engine does 0-60 in 4.4 seconds.

Part of the Rolls-Royce luxury experience is having more power than everyone else, which is why the Wraith is powered by a 6.6-liter twin-turbo V12 engine rated at 624 horsepower and 590 pound-feet of torque. The Wraith can accelerate from zero to 60 mph in just 4.4 seconds.

That’s just 0.7 seconds slower than a new Corvette, and it’s all the more impressive when you know that the Wraith weighs at least 5,203 pounds. That’s a lot of car, but it still gets 28.8 MPG on the highway. Not that Wraith owners really need to worry about gas prices.

8. The whole infotainment system disappears into the dash.

The Wraith comes with a 10.25-inch video display for music, navigation, and all the usual features. But it’s not a touchscreen because Rolls figures its customers don’t want grubby greasy fingerprints up on the dash. Quite right, old bean, they don’t! So the Wraith comes with a big touchpad down on the console to control it all. But wait, it gets better, because the Wraith is all voice-activated.

OK, so lots of cars have voice control. But when you’re done working with the infotainment system, you can press a button and the whole thing just disappears into the dash, covered up by a beautiful Clive-installed wood panel, with the grain oriented precisely at 55 degrees. We got a protractor and checked.

9. The Rolls-Royce logo on the hubcaps always stays upright

This feature is actually something that Rolls-Royce cars have had for a long time, but the overlaid "RR" logo on the Wraith’s hubcaps always stays perfectly upright.

It’s done by magic. You can be screaming along the Autobahn at the Wraith’s 155-mph top speed, and those logos will be calmly vertical, exuding a special kind of Rolls Royce dignity and unflappability. It’s as though your wheels are saying “keep calm and carry on” as you glide down the road.

10. Umbrellas pop out of the fenders.

There’s a lot to like about the 2018 Rolls-Royce Wraith, but maybe the best, most over-the-top thing about the whole car is the fact that you can get umbrellas that stash in the fenders, so they’re ready to go when you open the doors. Just hit a button and the umbrella handle will pop out and present itself for your convenience. James Bond never had it better.

The brollies themselves have little RR logos on the handles, but we think there’s room for improvement. The current umbrellas are understated in black. Very British, stiff upper lip and all that, but we think they should have a big printed message when they open up: “Because we can, that’s why.”